Box for pisfi-wokk walls



UNITED STATES PATENT oFFioE.

:Box FOR PIs-woRK WALLS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 16,548, dated February 3, 1857.

T o all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that we, OTIs NEEDHAM and WALES NEEDHAM, of the city and county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Boxes for the Construction of Pise- Work Walls; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specication, in which- Figure l is a plan of a box constructed according to our invention. Fig. 2 is a Vertical, longitudinal, sectional View, showing the same in operation. Fig. 3 is a transverse, vertical section of the same. Fig. 4 is a vertical, longitudinal, sectional View, showing the operation of a box, having its appendages slightly varied from that shown in Figs. l, 2, and 3. Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical section of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a transverse vertical section of a box, showing the appendages for, and manner of producing moldings, etc., on the faces of the walls. Fig. 7 is a vertical section, in the line of Fig. 6.

Similar letters or reference indicate corresponding parts-in the several figures.

This invention consists in certain improvements in the boxes for the construction of walls for houses, or other purposes, in what is known as Pise-work. lValls of this kind are made by ramming earth of a suitable character, or other suitable composition, or concrete, into parallel-sided boxes, (generally of wood,) of an internal width equal to the desired thickness of the wall to be constructed, moving the box along the wall as the construction proceeds; but the boxes heretofore used have been of rude construction, and not calculated for the expeditious execution or very perfect finish of the work.

The object of our improvements is to enable the work to be performed more expeditiously and perfectly, mainly with a view to the construction of walls of a composition of lime and sand, for buildings of a superior class.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use our invention, we will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

The box, as shown in all the ligures is constructed of quadrangular form, of four cast iron plates, viz, two side plates, a, a and two end plates, b, b, which are fitted to grooves near the ends of the inner faces of the side plates, as is best shown in the plan, Fig. 1. These plates may have their mterior surfaces planed, or otherwise faced up perfectly Hat. The plates are secured t0- gether by two screw bolts, c, d, passing through the side plates, a, a, one inside and the other outside of the box, as shown in Fig. 3; the end plates keeping the side plates with their inner faces at a distance apart equal to the desired thickness of the wall to be constructed. The box is furnished at each end, outside of the end plates with a roller, of a length nearly equal to the full widthV of the box; the said rollers being fitted to turn freely on bolts or axles secured in lugs at the ends of the side plates, a, a; one of them, e, being at the top, and the other, f, near the bottom of the box; said rollers being perpendicular to the side plates. The upper roller, e, stands with its lowered part just on a level with the upper edges of the side plates, a, a, and the lower one, f, with its lowest part a few inches above the lower edges of the side plates, a, c. The bolt c, which is inside the box, is at such a height that its lower part is on a level with the bottom of the lower roller j and is situated near the opposite end of the box to the said roller. The box thus far described is complete for making a solid wall; but we propose generally to make the wall hollow, and for this purpose we sometimes use, inside the box, a central plate, g, shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, parallel with the side plates, a, a, and fitting to slide easily in grooves in the inside of the end plates, as shown in Fig. l; said plates, g, having slits cut in the lower part, as shown at h, L, Fig. 1, in order that, when the box, is filled with composition, that portion of composition on one side of the plates, g, may unite with that on the other, and form a bond. A slot is also made in the lower part of this plate, to receive the bolt, c. The plate, g, leaves a cavity, all through the wall, parallel with the sides thereof, of a width equal to the thickness of the said plate. Instead of the plate, g, we sometimes as shown in Figs. 4f and 5,) insert a longitudinal bar, i, through a slot in one end of the box, and suspend upon this bar one or more blocks of metal, j, of a depth equal to that of the box, and of a width and thickness that will depend upon the size of cavities to be formed in the wall; said blocks forming vertical passages within the wall, of a Width and length equal to the thickness and width of the blocks, j.

The mode of constructing walls with this apparatus is as follows: The box-constructed as shown in all the figures, and furnished either as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, or as in Figs. 4 and 5, or (if a solid wall is desired,) without any such means of providing for the cavity in the interior, as are illustrated in those figures-is placed in the condition shown in Figs. 2 and 3, that is to say, with the lower edges of the plates, a, a, allon a level, upon any level surface or foundation prepared to receive the wall; the end nearest the bolt, c, being placed where the end or corner of`the wall is to come. It is then filled with the composition of which the wall is to be made; the said composition being rammed continually, as the filling proceeds, to make the wall solid. When the box has been filled to a level with the top of the plates, and the filling smoothed off at the top by a scraper or other suitable tool, the upper bolt, cl, is slackened suffi,-

ciently to allow the plate nearest the bolt, c, to be removed; and the said plate and bolt, toget-her with the plate, g, or bar, z', and block, j, if these latter be used, are removed to allow the box to be moved horizontally along the foundation in the direction of the dotted lines shown in Fig. 2; the plates, a, a, fitting to the finished piece of wall from which the box is being removed; the roller, e, running along the top thereof, and the roller, f, running along the foundation, if a raised foundation has been prepared for the wall; said rollers and the side plates guiding the movement of the box in a straight and horizontal line. The box is moved as above stated nearly its whole length, just leaving the end from which the plate has been removed in such a position asto be closed by the finished piece of wall, and dispensing with the further use of the plate inthe first course of the wall. The bolt, c, is again put in, to confine the side plates, a, a; and if thewall is hollow, the plate, g, or other device used in place thereof, is again put in, and the filling and ramming are proceeded with, as before. When this second section of the wall is completed. another is commenced in the same way, till one course is completed as far as the end of the wall. To commence a second course, the box, with both end plates in it, is placed on one end of the first course, as shown in Fig. 4, with the roller, j", and the bolt, c, resting on the lower course, to keep the box level; and the filling and ramming are proceeded with, as in commencing the first course. When the first section of the second course has been completed, the end plate next the end of the wall, and the bolt, c,

are removed, as they were after the first section of the first course was completed; also the bar, z', and block, y', or their equiva lent, the plate, g, if such have been used; and the box is then moved in the direction of the dotted lines in Fig. 4, and the bolt c, and the block, j, or plate, g, put in again; the box being kept in a horizontal position, during the said movement, by the roller, e, running along the finished piece of the upper course, and the roller, f, running along the finished lower course, and being kept from lateral deviation by the side plates fitting to t-he finished piece of the second course, and lapping a short distance over the lower course, as is illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, where the work is shown in red color. The lapping of the side plates over the lower course, which is consequent upon the placing of the roller, f, and bolt, c, at a distance from the bottom of the plates,- is of great advantage in commencing the second or any new course. The second section of the second course being completed, a third is commenced and proceeded with in the same manner, and this is repeated till the vwall is the proper height. In making walls at rightangles or other angles tc those already constructed the box is arranged at the proper angle, close to the completed wall, and the operation commenced and proceeded with, as before described.

To make moldings or projections of any kind on the face of the wall, an additional plate, m, is fitted into the box, at one side, as shown in Fig. 6; said plate being of a thickness equal to the projection of the molding; and the box is widened to an extent equal to the thickness of the said plate, m, by putting an additional washer or washers, of suitable thickness, at the end or ends of the rollers, e, f.

The form of the molding` or projection is cut out in the plate, m, as is shown at, a, n, in Fig. 7, where said plate, m, is shown with an opening, n, of a suitable character to form a window cap, which is represented in the section, Fig. 7, by o, projecting from the face of the wall. The plate, m, after the section of the wall in which it has been used is finished, is allowed to remain in its place during the removal of the box to the next section; the box, during its removal, sliding along the plate, m, which can be removed laterally after the box is clear of it.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is:

1. rlhe construction of the box with the movable end plates fitting to grooves in the side plates, and with a roller at one end, near the top, and another at the other end, near the bottom; the one to run on the finished part of a course of work which is in progress, and the other on a finished course, or on the foundation of the wall, to guide the boX in a horizontal line, While the plates keep it from deviatng laterally from a straight line, substantially as herein specified.

2. The plate, m, applied and operating Substantially as described, in combination with the other parts of the box, to produce window-caps, moldings, or other projections.

OTIS NEEDHAM. WALES NEEDHAM. Witnesses:

E. I. SANFORD, E. D. POTTER. 

